Red and Black Hockey

On Friday, one day after Brandon Sutter, the young alternate captain of the Carolina Hurricanes was the big star, youth was again the star. This time it was in the person of 2010 first round pick (seventh overall) Jeff Skinner. His heroics won’t be a part of the official stats, but his game deciding goal in the shootout on Friday was a thing of beauty. This is why he was drafted in the first round, and this is why he has made the big team. Pure talent.
Here’s a clip of the shootout goal taken from the stands in Hartwell Arena:

After the teams had played to a 1-1 stalemate, this was the only goal of the shootout, and it’ll be one that Skinner will never forget. Unfortunately, from a statistical standpoint, it doesn’t count as a goal. In the future, when he’s asked about his first NHL goal, this is the one that he’ll be thinking about, but he’ll have to answer that his first official NHL goal was something else. It might come a week from now. It might come in a month. It probably won’t be this dramatic or this pretty.

Skinner also assisted on the Canes only goal of the game, which came in the second period off the stick of Tuomo Ruutu.

The Canes are off to a 2-0 start, which is better than anyone was honestly hoping for. They won’t play again until next Thursday when they play at Ottawa for the first of five straight road games. They won’t play their first home game at the RBC Center until October 27 against the Capitals.

Comments

SICK goal. but eberle beats that easily, even though it’s “normal” game situation vs shootout. but skinner’s gonna be a blast in the upcoming season. nice for the canes, but they’re gonna hate the fact that washington, tampa and atlanta improved more than they did this offseason. just predicting